


The Burning Omega

by asamandra



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Prompt Fill, self-immolation (just mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-03-03
Packaged: 2018-01-14 00:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1246378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asamandra/pseuds/asamandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“MY CHiLDREN HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY<br/>MY ALPHA BEATS ME WHEN i SPEAK TO HiM<br/>HE iS TAKING A WiFE<br/>NOBODY LOOKS AT ME<br/>THEY ONLY TOUCH ME WHEN i AM iN HEAT<br/>AND NOW i CANNOT HAVE ANYMORE CHiLDREN<br/>ALL THAT iS LEFT iS MY HEAT<br/>so let the heat take me.<br/>let me burn”<br/>Gabriel Glasser, February 9, 1954</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This prompt at avengerkink: [60th anniversary of the Burning Omega](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/18271.html?thread=42041439#t42041439)
> 
> MY CHiLDREN HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY  
> MY ALPHA BEATS ME WHEN i SPEAK TO HiM  
> HE iS TAKING A WiFE  
> NOBODY LOOKS AT ME  
> THEY ONLY TOUCH ME WHEN i AM iN HEAT  
> AND NOW i CANNOT HAVE ANYMORE CHiLDREN  
> ALL THAT iS LEFT iS MY HEAT  
> so let the heat take me.  
> let me burn
> 
> ~the last words of the Burning Omega, who graffitied these words on the Metro Civil Hill south wall before performing self-immolation in the early morning of February 9, 1954.  
> This act is widely believed to be the watershed act that led to the Civil Rights & Fertility Equality Movement.

Clint sat on a bench at the square in front of Metro City Hall, waiting for Tony. He looked at his watch again. Ten minutes left. 

He saw a bunch of children arrive, a school class as it seemed. Together with a woman – their teacher? – they walked over the square and she pointed at the wall. _The_ wall, where the city finally let engrave the graffiti of Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant, now better known as Gabriel Glasser, his birth name, or 'The Burning Omega'.

Nowadays each child knows this name, his story is integral part of the curriculum, and whenever school classes travel to New York they visit the Metro City Hall. Forty years ago the city decided to engrave the words into the wall where sixty years ago a desperate Omega had left them. 

 

 **“MY CHiLDREN HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY  
** **MY ALPHA BEATS ME WHEN i SPEAK TO HiM**  
**HE iS TAKING A WiFE**  
**NOBODY LOOKS AT ME**  
**THEY ONLY TOUCH ME WHEN i AM iN HEAT**  
**AND NOW i CANNOT HAVE ANYMORE CHiLDREN**  
**ALL THAT iS LEFT iS MY HEAT**  
**so let the heat take me.**  
**let me burn”**  
Gabriel Glasser, February 9, 1954 

 

Clint shuddered inwardly when he thought about it. How desperate can a man be to do this to himself? But then, sixty years ago, it was different to be an omega. 

Clint knew, he himself was omega. The system still isn't perfect but at least omegas aren't second class citizens anymore. They can go out without asking for permission, they can get a job, they can chose themselves with whom they want to bond, they have rights now and governmental protection. Nowadays an alpha can go to jail when he mistreats, beats and rapes his omega, he can take only one partner and parents can't _sell_ their children into forced bonds anymore.

And all of this they owe Gabriel Glasser, the man who committed suicide by self-immolation on this square.

“A penny for your thoughts,” he heard Tony's voice behind him and felt his hands on his shoulders. With a smile on his face he turned to look up at his alpha and Tony leaned in and kissed him. 

“Hey,” Clint finally rose and Tony cocked his head when he saw his expression. 

“What's wrong?” He asked, concerned and protective like a good alpha would be. 

“It's this place. It always makes me sad.” 

“Because of the Burning Omega?” Tony asked and intertwined their fingers. He also looked at the graffiti, engraved in stone.

“Yeah.” Clint leaned his head on Tony's shoulder, inhaled his scent and felt himself calm down when Tony placed a hand on his waist. “It's... it's so sad but on the other hand we owe him everything we have now. Everything.”

“I know, Clint.” Tony placed a kiss on his forehead. Together they crossed the square to get to the waiting stretch limousine but when they heard the children with their teacher, they stopped for a few moments.

“Why could this alpha take a wife, Mrs. Fernandes?” one little girl asked and pointed at the engraving. 

“Well, Michelle, that's what I've told you. Before Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant did this omegas didn't have too much rights. They were the property of their alpha. When the alpha wanted a wife, beta or omega, he could do this. No one would've judged him.” 

“But this is wrong, Mrs. Fernandes,” a boy now said and frowned. “My alpha-dad told me it says in the bible that a bond shall be one alpha and one omega.”

“That's right, Justin. But back in the days omegas weren't people, they were property. Do you understand that? You can own more than one toy, right? And that's what they thought about omegas back then,” the teacher explained. 

“I think that's wrong.” Justin declared and folded his hands over his chest and Clint squeezed Tony's hand. 

“What did they do to his children?” Another girl asked now and Mrs. Fernandes nodded.

“Anton Bryant gave them to his beta-wife to raise them.” 

“And Gabriel wasn't allowed to see them?” the girl's eyes went wide.

“No. He only saw them while he gave birth to them and then Anton Bryant took them away.” 

“But my omega-mom loves me so much. Why wouldn't this alpha let Gabriel love his children as well?” another boy asked. 

“I don't know as well, John.” Mrs. Fernandes said and shook her head slightly. “Okay, does anyone of you know what happened after Gabriel did this?” She asked then and two children raised their hands.

“Yes, Oliver?” she pointed at one of the boys. 

“The omega rebellion!” He said and smiled proud and Mrs. Fernandes nodded slowly.

“Yes, that's right but not immediately. It took another six years to the omega rebellion. But what happened right after Gabriel's death?” 

“The curfew and the collaring.” A girl said without putting her hand up.

“That's right, Lisa. The curfew. A week after Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant's death no omega was allowed to leave their homes anymore. Alphas could get a special license when they had to take their omega out of the house but only to get them home from the kennels or to get them to a doctor. And the alphas had to collar their omegas.”

“That's awful, Mrs. Fernandes,” a small girl said and shuddered.

“You're right, Julie. And it got even worse. The few rights omegas had were rescinded and in the next years many of them died because their alphas didn't care like they should.” 

“And then Melinda Ω pr. Thomas Gray escaped and started to free other omegas?” 

“Three years after Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant's death.” Mrs. Fernandes confirmed. “She freed the first omegas and after a few months they were more than hundreds and they started to demonstrate against these laws but when the police wanted to arrest them they fought. No one ever had seen omegas fight against alphas or betas but this time they fought back and they won their first small battles. Six years after Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant's death they were many, many thousands and they didn't take the cruel treatment any longer. Gabriel's death was the watershed act that led to the Civil Rights & Fertility Equality Movement which led to a change of thinking.”

“But Mrs. Fernandes, my beta parents say omegas are pacific and they can not fight,” a boy said and Clint looked over to Tony who still watched the children and their teacher with a small smile on his face.

“That's not true, Tommy!” Another boy yelled now and glared at him. “My omega-dad is in the army and he can fight! And he has quite some medals!” 

“See, Chandler, that's one of the rights the omegas fought for. To get accepted as equal. Before Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant died no one thought about omegas fighting for their rights and it was unbelievable that a omega could be part of the military but, as you see, your omega-dad can do this now.” 

“And everything just because Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant burnt himself?” Tommy asked now and Mrs. Fernandes nodded. 

“It started with his sacrifice. Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant wasn't the only omega who revolted against the system but he was the first. After he did what he had done, after Melinda Ω pr. Thomas Gray freed the omegas, after Jan Ω pr. Diana Marsden refused to give up his children and killed them instead, after Cynthia Ω pr. Irene Jackson tried to kill Mayor Serrano and many other desperate acts the society couldn't ignore the omegas any longer. But it still took more than twenty years till omegas gained the same rights as the rest of the people. We've talked about the Civil Rights & Fertility Equality Movement in class.” 

The children were quiet and listened to their teacher as well as Tony and Clint did. 

“Most of you are ten years old now. In two years you'll get tested and then you will know if you are alpha, beta or omega. All of you will stay in the same class till you graduate. You will sit together, learn together, talk with each other and befriend with each other. Sixty years ago, when the children got tested, they got separated afterwards. Alphas and betas could go to school furthermore, just in different classes but omegas had to leave school. They were given to their parents who could keep them or sell them to the kennels. With fifteen they could be chosen by alphas or betas and then they were their property till the day they died. They only could keep their first name and they always had to tell anyone who asked who their owner was. Omegas didn't necessary live together with their alphas or betas. Some, like Gabriel, were locked up outside of the house or in the basement and most of them weren't allowed to see their children. Thanks to Gabriel, thanks to Melinda, to Jan, to Cynthia, to Eric, to Janet and to all the omegas that fought all of you can do the same things. It doesn't matter anymore if you're alpha, beta or omega. All of you can graduate, all of you can go to college, all of you can get a good job if you work hard, all of you have the same chances now. And all this, all this started with one omega that was so desperate that he killed himself. Here. Right where we stand right now.”

The children looked at each other and both, Clint and Tony, could see their thoughts. They saw the children understand the enormity of Gabriel Glasser's act. 

“He only wanted to be free from all the cruelty his alpha, Anton Bryant, had forced on him. He certainly didn't have in mind to be a hero. But he was a hero to the omegas and to all of us. The system still isn't perfect and there are still enough alphas and betas out there to make the life of an omega hell but they are the exception rather than the rule nowadays.” Mrs. Fernandes looked at her pupils. 

“I'm glad that I live now and not sixty years ago,” a girl, Michelle, said and that was that. Tony looked at Clint and together they went to the teacher.

“Excuse me for interrupting,” Tony said. “My name is...” 

“I know who you are, Mr. Stark,” the teacher smiled and Tony flashed her a smile. 

“Okay. That's my bonded omega, Clint Stark.” Tony introduced him and Clint smiled as well. “We... we just heard your speech and... I had an idea. You know that tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of the Burning Omega and that there will be a commemoration here. The mayor wants me to give a speech but I'd rather you do it. Can you do that? Tell the people exactly what you've told your children here? Because this was so brilliant and I think the world needs to hear it like these children.”

“Mr. Stark, I'm not sure that...” 

“Oh, believe me, this will be okay.” Tony and Mrs. Fernandes still talked when Clint felt a hand tugging at his shirt and he looked down to the girl beside him. He hunkered down to be at eye level with her.

“I know who you are,” she whispered and Clint smiled. “You are Hawkeye. You are my favorite Avenger,” she added and Clint felt himself blush.

“Yes? Why is that so?” 

“Because of you my omega-mom took the chance to leave my evil alpha-mom and took me and my brother with her.” 

“Because of me?” Clint frowned and cocked his head.

“Yes. She said that you are the perfect proof that a omega can achieve everything. You are just an ordinary omega and you fight together with the alpha Avengers against all those super villains and aliens and gods.”

“Wow. That's... wow, I don't know what to say.” 

“I just wanted to say thank you, Mr. Hawkeye,” the girl said and hugged him.

“Can I ask you a question?” A boy now asked him and Clint nodded.

“Mrs. Fernandes had said that a omega doesn't have to have the name of his alpha but you have the name of your bonded...” he trailed off and looked at Tony for a second.

“That's true,” Clint said and nodded. “But I chose to take his name. I chose to accept Tony's proposal and I chose to take his name because I love him and I want the whole world to know that he's _my_ alpha.”

Clint felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up he saw Tony smiling at him. And then Tony hunkered down beside him. 

“Gabriel Glasser is not only a symbol figure for omegas. He's a symbol for all of us. He changed the way all of us are thinking now. No alpha right in his mind would lock up his omega in a shed in the garden but sixty years ago this wasn't uncommon. No alpha right in his mind would take away a his omegas children but they did it all the time back then. Do you understand what I want to say? We are all equal nowadays and it doesn't matter anymore if you are alpha, beta or omega. I can consider myself lucky to have found the most amazing omega ever and that he chose me and that he wants all the world to know. In two years you get tested and then, whatever gender you will come out, when you keep Gabriel in your mind then all of you will find a partner as amazing as my Clint.” Tony could see the man beside him blush. 

When they finally made it to their limousine after signing autographs and talking to the children Tony leaned back in his seat and sighed. “Well, I call that a win. I don't have to give that speech at the commemoration and the mayor will get an amazing speech nevertheless.” But then he looked at Clint and frowned. “A penny for your thoughts.” He repeated the question he had asked Clint before. 

“I think it's getting better.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Everything. The Equality Movement, the way people think, everything.” Clint gestured vaguely back at the square where he had waited for Tony.

“Oh, that. Yes, that's getting better.” Tony nodded and took Clint's hand.

“Thank you,” Clint suddenly said and kissed Tony. 

“Not that I would complain but what was that for?” He asked and smirked. 

“For being the most amazing alpha ever.” Clint grinned and leaned his head against Tony's shoulder, inhaling his scent and relaxing in the comfort of being with his alpha. And to be at eye level with him. Thanks to Gabriel Ω pr. Anton Bryant also known as Gabriel Glasser also known as The Burning Omega also known as the man who had given everything to be free and had freed all the omegas as well.


	2. Chapter 2

“Back in the days...” Steve started, took his tumbler and stared into the amber liquid, “I was so thankful to not be an omega,”. He took a sip and looked up, looked at Bruce, who was an omega, and Phil and he slightly shook his head. After the commemoration Phil took Steve to a bar and Bruce offered to accompany them. They sat in a booth with a bottle of whiskey and three glasses on the table and even if Steve couldn't get drunk, he could enjoy the burning of the liquid in his throat and the warmth it left in his stomach. “My mom went to church every Sunday and I went with her. I thanked god on my knees that I wasn't an omega. It was bad.” He took another sip and licked his lips. “There was this girl, Laney. She was in my class. She was so... so pretty and strong-willed and independent, kind and helpful. She was my friend. We all thought that she would come out as alpha or at least as beta. We were wrong. When she got tested she was an omega. We've never saw her again. Her parents gave her to an older alpha when she went into her first heat with thirteen. Even then it was illegal but no one cared. She was just an omega. Her alpha was forty when he claimed her. Forty!” Steve snorted into his glass and took another sip. Bruce leaned forward to refill the glass and Cap nodded at him with a small smile. “She died with seventeen. There were complications at birth of her fifth child. She was seventeen, holy mother of god. As soon as she had given birth and got into her next heat her alpha impregnated her anew. Bastard!” Steve emptied the tumbler and then he rubbed his forehead. “She had five children, an alpha and do you know how many people were at her cremation? Me and the guy from the crematory.” Steve rolled the glass in his hands and leaned his head back. “No one cared about her. She was just an omega. Her children were small, I didn't reproach them. But her parents, her siblings and her bonded alpha failed her and no one cared.” He took another sip of the whiskey and licked his lips. “No one cared.” He shook his head. “And then there was me. A small, sickly little runt. They all said even the slightest wisp of wind could blow me away and they were true. No one expected me to come out as alpha. They tested me four times till they finally believed it. The day I got the confirmation from our doctor I went to the church and donated all the money I've earned with little jobs because I was so thankful not to be an omega. Selfish, I know,” Steve snorted again and Bruce placed his hand on Steve's shoulder.

“No, it wasn't selfish. Everyone would've done the same, Steve,” he said but Steve just shook his head again. 

“And no one did anything. No one dared to do anything. It was 'the system'.” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and snorted again, a bitter sound. 

“Everyone could see it. They could see it but no one cared. They were just omegas. Can you believe it? I mean, most of our parents are omegas. We all know how complicated a beta pregnancy is and how rare and nevertheless, they treated the omegas like shit. My mother was alpha and my father beta and he didn't survive the pregnancy. All the doctors blamed him for my weak constitution, you know, and then, on the other hand, they treated omegas like animals, like shit. They got caged, they got sold, they got beaten and raped, they got locked up, they had to live beneath human dignity.”

“Steve...” Bruce started but the super soldier again shook his head. 

“I still can't believe that it took such radical measures to finally stir up the people.” He looked at Bruce and Phil, and then he took another sip of his whiskey. 

“I've always thought... no, I hoped... that the people would realize that all of us are human and that it doesn't matter what gender we are. I've never thought, that a man had to be this desperate to kill himself in such a horrible way to finally... finally... change something.” 

“Captain...” Phil leaned forward and placed a hand on Steve's shoulder. He looked at him and when the super-soldier returned the look he smiled a tiny bit. “I know, it had to be horrible for you to learn about Gabriel Glasser in this way. Today all of us know his story since we were children and I'm sorry that we just mentioned it and didn't explain what really happened. For us, Gabriel is always present.” 

“There are simple songs and poems children learn in kindergarten, it's part of the curriculum, not only in sex ed but also in history. Nowadays children get raised with the knowledge. Like Agent Coulson said, Steve, it's always present and no one thinks too much about it anymore. It's a fact, like Civil War, like World War one and two, you know?” 

“I can understand that but...” Steve swallowed and took another sip of his whiskey.

“I'm sorry, Captain.” Phil added but then he smiled. “Would you like to speak to one of Gabriel's great-grandchildren?” 

There were quite a few of his descendants at the commemoration but Steve didn't want to disturb. It was their relative who got honored and it felt wrong. 

“You think they would speak to me?” he asked and Phil smiled. 

“As it happens I know one of them very well. And I can call him.” 

“Yes, I... I'd like that.” Steve smiled as well and Bruce refilled all their glasses while Phil rose, took his phone and went outside to make his call.

“There are poems and songs?” Steve asked curiously and Bruce nodded.

“Yes, you can google them if you want to.” 

Steve was quiet for quite some time, just stared into his tumbler and let the liquid move in circles.

“My mom was an omega,” Bruce said after a while, guessing what Steve wanted to ask but didn't dare. “My father killed her when I was a boy. The Civil Rights & Fertility Equality Act wasn't established everywhere but he was one of the first alphas that got locked up for killing his omega. I lived with my aunt for a few years because it still wasn't a _real_ murder, it was still _just an omega_ but at least he _got_ locked up. Ten years earlier no one would've cared about it. Things had changed.” 

“Bruce, I...” 

“You don't have to say anything, Steve. You have been only one person and even if you've been Captain America... there were priorities other than ten years later.” 

“Gabriel Glasser was only one person as well...” 

“But the time had come. When you went down in the ocean there was the war and _that_ was important.” 

“Isn't it sad that there were times were war was more important than human rights?” Steve looked pained and Bruce placed his hand over Steve's. He just opened his mouth when he saw Phil returning and with him came Agent Jasper Sitwell. They both sat down, Phil beside Steve and Sitwell beside Bruce.

“You know who Agent Sitwell is, Steve?” Phil asked and Steve nodded.

“Sure, who doesn't?” He answered and Sitwell blushed slightly.

“Phil said you wanted to talk to me about Gabriel?” 

“Only if it's okay with you,” Steve nodded.

“Of course it is. What do you want to know?” Sitwell asked and gestured for the barkeeper to get him a beer.

“I'd say everything,” Steve grinned now when Sitwell raised a brow.

“Don't worry, I've bombarded my grannie with questions as well when I was younger.” Sitwell got his beer and took a long sip before he put the bottle on the table and started to fiddle with the label.

“O-kay... uhm... Gabriel was my great-grandfather, he had nine children, his third daughter Louisa is my grannie, she had four children and her second son Donald is my father.”

“Did your grandmother ever meet Gabriel?” Steve asked and Sitwell looked concentrated at his bottle.

“No. She said, Anton didn't allow it. She only learned about Gabriel when she was older and realized that his wife Vera was beta and couldn't have gotten so many children. You know how complicated beta pregnancies are, even nowadays, but back then? But whom do I tell. You've been there,” he looked up at Steve, removed his glasses and cleaned them. 

“She said, Vera wasn't a bad stepmother but no one told them about the omega that lived in the garden shed. They only said that they weren't allowed to go there and that was that. Her older brother, great-uncle Thomas, tried to get in but Anton found out and beat him. According to grannie her father wasn't a nice guy.”

“How did they find out about Gabriel then?” Steve refilled his glass and took a small sip.

“When the police arrived and told them that he had killed himself after soiling the wall at Metro City Hall. They called it soiling the wall,” Sitwell snorted and ordered another beer. “Anton wasn't at home, grannie had said, and no one realized that Gabriel could flee.” Sitwell opened his wallet and rummaged through it and then he handed Steve a picture. It was old and crinkled and it showed a man, early twenties with short hair. He wore glasses and a collar and his eyes were full of fear. He had dark hair and wasn't unappealing. “That's the only picture of him. It's from his ID-card. We all have a copy of it.” Sitwell said and Steve once again looked at the man on the picture. The collar had a number and a tag with the name Anton Bryant on it.

“Grannie said, when Anton came home that evening he was so angry that he beat his wife Vera to a pulp and only the fact that the neighbors called the police stopped him. He got arrested for soiling a public place and for beating Vera but no one said anything about Gabriel. But the next day there was a picture in the papers.” Sitwell leaned back and cleaned his glasses again.

“What about his children, your grandmother, her siblings? What did they think about their omega-father?” 

“Grannie said at first they were ashamed. Deeply ashamed. They got bullied in the school because of him. Not because of Anton was so cruel, because Gabriel was so desperate to kill himself. They moved to Washington weeks later, she had said, because it was really bad and they were just children who didn't know anything about their omega-father. She said, the worst for Anton was, that the two alphas who wanted to have the omega-children of him, backed away and he had to take them with him. He sold them to the kennels in Washington.”

“What do you think about him?” 

“Anton? Or Gabriel?” Sitwell cocked his head and toyed with his empty bottle.

“Both I guess,” Steve looked at him and waited till he started to speak again. He took some time but then he nodded.

“I'm proud to be a descendant of Gabriel Glasser but I'm deeply ashamed to be related to Anton Bryant as well. My aunt Mary was the first in our family that changed her name officially from Bryant to Glasser when I was a boy and after that most of my relatives followed. Only great-aunt Ethel, his first child, supported Anton till she died and she taught her children how wrong Gabriel's suicide and his behavior had been. No one in my family talks to her descendants.” 

“Understandable,” Steve said and all three men nodded. 

“You know, that you can visit the house where Anton had lived?” Sitwell asked and Steve nodded.

“Yes, Phil told me.” 

“I've been there with my grannie. If you want to see it I can accompany you,” he offered and Steve looked up at him.

“Yes, I'd like that.” 

“You will be shocked when you see where Gabriel had to live for twenty-three years.” Sitwell ordered another beer and Steve asked for another glass. When they had both he filled the glass with the whiskey they had on the table. 

Steve was the first who took his glass, held it and looked at the other three. “To Gabriel Glasser, a man who changed the world,” he said and Phil, Bruce and Sitwell clinked their glasses at his.

“To Gabriel Glasser,” Phil repeated.

“To Gabriel Glasser,” Bruce followed suit.

“To my great-grandfather Gabriel,” Sitwell said and all four downed their whiskey.

**Author's Note:**

> [asamandra on tumblr](http://asamandra.tumblr.com/)


End file.
